Zoo

Product Information

The illustration on the recto side of the spread encourages the second reading because now we see a close up of a gorilla not through bars, but through the archetypal storybook window frame, divided into four segments. This family is about to go home, and they talk about eating dinner, and what they will have. In a Magic Eye book kind of way, we can imagine seeing the family through that same frame, eating their burger and chips and beans — foods chosen by Browne specifically for being highly processed, removed from ‘nature’, not through the bars of a zoo, but through the equally restrictive ‘bars’ of a suburban window frame. NEW SITUATION Something I do admire is it's comment on consumerism. It's décor resembling a bar-code and it being a commercial item. I think that that is one thing that it truly embodies and imbibes throughout. This age range for this book is 8-12 with Children younger than 8 accessing the book via the great Illustrations and older Children being able to understand the real story. Older children can understand the theme from the text but younger children may need to be shown the pictures and maybe asked, ‘what is unusual about this picture?’ Hannah loves gorillas but has never seen one. Her father's too busy to take her to the zoo - or for anything else come to that. For her birthday, Hannah asks her father for a gorilla - but is disappointed when she discovers that the gorilla she's got is just a toy one. But then something extraordinary happens...the toy turns into a real gorilla, who puts on her father's hat and coat and takes her off for a magical visit to the zoo...This is a celebratory 30th anniversary edition with a glorious new cover!

Browne's (Willy the Wimp) fourth book featuring his ingenuous, remarkably human chimp mingles soccer and magic, two topics of indisputable appeal to kids. In wry, splendidly detailed pictures and a Continue reading » Anthony Browne’s incomparable artwork illuminates the deeply satisfying story of a lonely girl, a friendly gorilla, and their enchanted night out. Hannah’s favourite animals in the whole world are gorillas; she reads about them, watches programmes about them, and draws pictures of them. But all she really wants to do is see a gorilla in real life. Hannah’s dad is always too busy to take her to the zoo, so on her birthday, Hannah decides to ask for a gorilla of her own.A lonely little girl dreams of flying. But it is only in her imagination that she can escape her troubles and travel to a surreal land. There a friend awaits her, strange and familiar at the same time… Dad, mum and two brothers spend a day at the zoo, looking at the animals in the cages - or is it the animals that are looking at them? Read more Details Dad makes a joke about ‘jam’. Can you think of other words that have more than one meaning? Think is called a homonym. Could you make a poster with lots of examples of them? When he finished school Browne intended to become a painter, but being short of money he took a job as a medical illustrator, producing detailed paintings of operations for Manchester Royal Infirmary. After three years he grew tired of the job's repetitiveness and moved on to design greeting cards for Gordon Fraser. He designed cards for five years before he started writing and illustrating his own books. On Thursday morning at a quarter past ten, Joseph Kaye noticed something strange about the kettle,'' reads the intriguing first line of this imaginative picture book. Joseph's father tells his son Continue reading »

With spare text and haunting paintings, Browne ( Gorilla ; Willy the Wimp ) creates an intriguing fantasy about sibling rivalry transformed by experience. In spite of her fears, Rose follows her Continue reading » A nervous boy named Joe is on his way to a birthday party, but he has lost his invitation and doesn’t know the house number. Panels in blue wash show Joe’s mother reassuring him as they walk down the Continue reading » The family visit the zoo, where they display behaviour which mirrors that of some of the animals, but where it also becomes apparent that the animals are equally unhappy.Browne’s illustrations of the father emphasise his bulk, with worm’s eye views (rather, child-eye views) and in one disturbing picture he has his mouth wide open, similar to depictions of cannibalistic ogres. In his fifth book about Willy the chimp, Browne gives a smart, playful nod to Magritte, Rousseau, Dali and other artists whose paintings were often more the stuff of dreams than of real life. Continue reading »

This fantastical picture book from 2009-2011 Children's Laureate and Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Anthony Browne is a warm and sensitive story. With its beautiful, slightly surreal illustrations, it is a magical story to treasure and share again and again. This emotive and endearing book tells the humbling story of Hannah, a little girl, who wants nothing more but to spend quality time with her very busy father. Left to her own devices a lot of the time, Hannah spends her days reading about gorillas, watching gorillas on television and drawing pictures of gorillas. But she has NEVER seen a real gorilla!! Her father doesn’t have time to take her to the zoo; he doesn’t have time for anything!Flood, Alison (9 June 2009). "Gorilla artist Anthony Browne becomes children's laureate". The Guardian. The action is driven by the father, who is the only one in this family who thinks a trip to the zoo would be fun. We are shown this in the car, when the father is the only one to laugh at his own joke. Browne, in turn, makes this into a joke for the reader by saying ‘everyone laughed except’ (everyone else in the car). This solipsistic father has no empathy for the desires of the rest of his family. A. I connected with having to go on family trips where you might not necessarily want to be there or someone causes a scene. I also connected with being a sibling and getting in trouble for something you didn't start. The author made a relatable setting of going to the zoo and relatable characters through having a "typical" family. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (MacRae, 1988) – an edition of the 1865 classic, highly commended for the Greenaway [11] [a] and winner of the Emil [15] This story is of Hannah whom is a little girl, who wants nothing more but to spend quality time with her very busy father. The story starts off with her not spending much time with her father and being lonely and showing a small sense of neglect in the story with the bland colours. So, she has a dream about a gorilla whom takes over the fatherly figure and as the story progresses the child is happy as she is spending time with her father

I think it was very adventurous and interesting and there was lots going on and I give it a 3 star because there was lots of verbs, adjectives, adverbs and lots of nouns and speech marks it is a very lovely book to read. The final sentence shows the reader that the boy narrator has finally started to think about the ‘humanity’ of the animals. He’s just starting to look outside the concerns of his own family.

Find out the cost of entry for a zoo near you. Can you use the price list to make up some word problems? I feel this book would be best suited to EYFS-KS1, as it is an inclusive text (limited unfamiliar vocabulary) and the large, clear, imaginative illustrations would aid early/reluctant/EAL readers. Zoo is the story of a family’s trip to the Zoo. It is interesting to read about the family dynamics and I feel most children and adults can relate to the characters in the book. From the boys fighting, the Dad telling terrible jokes to the Mum being embarrassed by them all. As the story progresses you understand the underlying theme, which is actually about a role reversal with the people outside the cages being the animals. This is enforced by the use of pictures, with the children wearing monkey caps and also members of the public having animal features. Willy the chimp makes a welcome return, this time as an artist. His portfolio of work comprises his own, unique versions of art masterpieces.